Carbon supported and surfactant stabilized metal nanoparticle catalysts for direct methanol fuel cells

Download
2005
Çelik, Çağlar
Carbon supported surfactant, such as 1-decanethiol and octadecanethiol, stabilized platinum and platinum/ruthenium species have been prepared recently. In this thesis, for the first time, 1-hexanethiol has been used as an organic stabilizer for the preparation of carbon supported platinum and platinum/ruthenium nanoparticle catalysts. These new catalysts were employed for methanol oxidation reaction, which were used for direct methanol fuel cells. Cyclic voltammetry, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy have been used in order to determine the nature of the catalysts. The effect of temperature and time on catalytic activity of catalysts were examined and the maximum catalytic activity was observed for carbon supported 1-hexanethiol stabilized platinum nanoparticle catalyst (with 1:1 thiol/platinum molar ratio) which was heated up at 200oC for 5 hours. The particle size of platinum nanoparticles was determined to be ~ 10 nm in diameter. The size and distribution of metal nanoparticles on carbon support, the Pt/Ru surface composition, the relative amount of Pt(0), Pt(II) and Pt(IV) and the removal of organic surfactant molecules around the metal nanoparticles were found to be important in determining the catalytic activity of electrodes towards methanol oxidation reaction. A significant decrease in catalytic activity was observed for carbon supported 1-hexanethiol stabilized Pt75Ru25 and Pt97Ru3 (with 1:1 thiol/PtRu molar ratio) with respect to carbon supported 1-hexanethiol stabilized Pt (with 1:1 thiol/platinum molar ratio). This result might be due to unremoved stabilizer shell around platinum/ruthenium nanoparticles and increase in amount of Pt(II) and Pt(IV) compared to Pt(0) where the methanol oxidation occured.

Suggestions

Inorganic antimony speciation using tungsten coil atom trap and hydride generation atomic absorption spectrometry
Akay, Pınar; Ataman, Osman Yavuz; Department of Chemistry (2010)
Antimony is a toxic element which is mostly found in two oxidation states (III and V) in environmental, biological and geological samples. Antimony may form various inorganic and organic compounds that exhibit differences in analytical behavior, toxicity and mobility; inorganic compounds of antimony are more toxic than organic forms and toxicity of Sb(III) has been shown to be 10 times higher than that of Sb(V). Therefore selective determination of Sb(III) and Sb(V) is required in environmental and biologic...
Multicomponent ion exchange on clinoptilolite
Bayraktaroğlu, Kerem; Yücel, Hayrettin; Department of Chemical Engineering (2006)
Zeolites are crystalline, hydrated aluminosilicate minerals that are characterized by their ability to exchange some of their constituent cations with cations in aqueous solutions, without a major change in their crystalline structure. Clinoptilolite is the most abundant ype of zeolite and it has received extensive attention due to its favorable selectivity for mmonium and certain heavy metal cations. The aim of this study is to investigate the binary and ternary (multicomponent) ion xchange behavior of sod...
Electrochromic and photovoltaic applications of benzotriazole bearing donor acceptor type conjugated polymers
Baran, Derya; Toppare, Levent Kamil; Department of Chemistry (2010)
Organic semi-conductors are of great interest since these compounds can be utilized as active layers in many device applications such as ECDs, LEDs and solar cells. Incorporating the benzotriazole units into the polymer backbone enhances the optical properties of donor units. Hexyl thiophene and pyrrole are commonly used as electron donor materials. Benzotriazole can be coupled to hexyl thiophene or pyrrole to yield materials which can be polymerized to give donor acceptor type polymers. These materials are...
Development of new synthetic methodologies for indole derivatives
Kılıklı, Ahmet Alper; Balcı, Metin; Department of Chemistry (2010)
Synthesizing nitrogen containing heterocyclic compounds is one of the leading research areas throughout the organic chemistry due to their significant activities on biological systems. Among the various biologically active molecules, indole derivatives are of prime importance on the grounds of their proven clinical roles. Objective of this study is to synthesize new indole derivatives those may contribute treatment of several diseases like their analogues via a recently developed synthetic methodology. Besi...
Voltammetric methods of reboxetine analysis and the mechanism of its electrode reactions
Altunöz Erdoğan, Deniz; Erk, Nevin; Kilic, Esma (Walter de Gruyter GmbH, 2013-05-01)
Reboxetine (RBX) electrochemical redox behavior at hanging mercury drop (HMDE) and glassy carbon electrodes (GCE) was studied in various pH Britton-Robinson universal buffers using cyclic voltammetry and square-wave voltammetry. RBX was reduced at the HMDE and oxidized at the GCE with reversible adsorption controlled and irreversible diffusion controlled processes respectively. The anodic peak is due to the amine and the cathodic peak may correspond to oxygen protonation. An oxidation reaction mechanism is ...
Citation Formats
Ç. Çelik, “Carbon supported and surfactant stabilized metal nanoparticle catalysts for direct methanol fuel cells,” M.S. - Master of Science, Middle East Technical University, 2005.